The Steel Guitar Forum

Last night after our Gig in Clarksville, the drummer knocked over a cymbal stand causing his ride cymbal to fall over. Luckily it missed my laquer guitar body, but it did hit the Pedal Bar. Caused a juicy little ding on the right side so I ain't exactly a happy camper this morning. I generally go outta my way to steer clear of the other band members on stage, trying to avoid a mishap like this. It makes me so mad that others in the band won't do the same. However, as much as I play out it was probably just a matter of time before something like this would happen anyway. I did notice last night that there was a FULL MOON! NR<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Nick Reed on 27 April 2002 at 05:36 AM.]</p></FONT>

Nick, I had that happen to the pedal bar of my Black 1980 Emmons push-pull (Sadly, I no longer own). Unfortunately (perhaps fortunately for the drummer!), I was the one who tripped over the crash cymbal stand and the cymbal fell onto the pedal board just like a circular saw onto a piece of stock leaving a rather unpleasant gash.

Maybe that is why they call it a crash cymbal!!!

If you take a file and some polishing compound to the nick, you won't hardly notice it at all. Then, after a while, when you get the next ding, you'll forget about it entirely.
Uff-Da!

WHOA! Before you take a file to it, get a smooth faced or a ballpeen hammer and very gently tap the aluminum back into place as much as possible.

As soft as it is, it shouldn't take much to push most of it back. THEN file only the high spots, wet sand with 220, then 400, then 600 grit, and use some fine polishing compound to remove the sanding scratches.

Nick - Did you even get an apology out of the drummer? I think he should buy you a new pedal bar.

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Lee, from South Texas

Lee,
Yeah, he apologized! We've all played in a band together several years so we're all buds. I know he didn't mean to do it. It's just that I try so hard to take care of my equipment and it stung a little at first. But after I vented on him, I don't hardly notice it now. "now. . .now..temper..temper". NR <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Nick Reed on 27 April 2002 at 02:53 PM.]</p></FONT>

Drummers.

Nick... I thought I heard a Howl last night coming home from my Friday night Dance. And you're right there was a Full Moon. Seriously though, I know how you take care of your Emmons Steels and I know how you must feel. I don't like anyone getting too close to my Steel Guitar but it seems they attract people who will kick the pedal bar while talking to you, or trip over your Amp Cord while walking away.
I can take an accident better than just plain ole clumsiness. I used to play with a Fiddle player who tripped on someone's cord every time he walked across the stage. He got me several times.

Nick....

I know where your comming from. I have had several persons to pick up my bar,failing to realize just how heavy it is, drop it back onto the cabinet leaving a ding in it. I now try to put the bar in my pocket whenever I leave the axe.

I agree with the thought of gently tapping the ding back down with a small hammer and then do a polish job on it. I have done that on a couple of other projects,not pedalbars.

25 years ago, Jeff Newman published a story about a famous drunk singer who pissed on Jeffs spanking new pedal steel.
Consider yourself lucky

Talking about people picking up your bar and picks.
I use a small oval metal cigarette case (or holder) you buy in any giftshop.
I inserted a cardboard divider, so I have 2 compartments. The bar fits perfectly in one compartment and your picks and spare picks in the other.
I always keep that in my pocket or bag.

We steelers are kinda particular about our instruments. All of the steels I've seen in the past 40 years ('cept mine, maybe) look like they just came out of a showroom. Not since the '50s have I seen a steel with "personality". You know...like Willie Nelson's guitar!

You haven´t seen mine, I guess it has what you call "personality"... I really don´t care about all the dings and scratches that were already on it when I got it, but strangely it pi$$es me off when it happens to myself, like a few weeks ago when I was doing some hammer-ons and lost the grip on the bar and it fell between the necks... even though there were a lot of dings already, that one made me angry. Maybe someday I´ll try B. Seymour´s method of filling them with lacquer, or at least some of them, but that takes a lot of patience.

Like the man said,

"What do they call people who hang out around musicans?"

Drummers

Nick, if it is important to you to completely remove the defect you can use a punch and hammer and place the punch exactly on the backside of the flaw and hit the punch hard enough to make the flaw protrude SLIGHTLY, then use the file and file it back perfectly flat and thus removing the defect. Then you are ready to use the various grits of sand paper and compounds to polish it back to the original finish. This is the method auto body men use in working a dent out of sheet metal. You could do it yourself or even take it to a body shop and let them spend 15 minutes on it then polish it or have it polished. This will completely eliminate the bad spot.
Jerry<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jerry Roller on 28 April 2002 at 09:12 PM.]</p></FONT>

<SMALL> "Not since the '50s have I seen a steel with "personality". You know...like Willie Nelson's guitar!"</SMALL>

Donny... didn't you ever take a gander at my ol' MSA?

Rode Hard Put Away Wet...

Gentlemen - One thing that I learned for a fact many years ago, is that if you take your gear out and use it, it's going to get skinned, scratched, dinged, or something. I swear, this a fact of life in the music business. Some years ago (WELL after I had come to know what I said above for sure), I got the prettiest blue "sunburst" Emmons that you ever saw. You wouldn't believe how I babied it. I played somewhere every weekend, and moved around alot. Two years after I got it, it looked like I drug it through Viet Nam with me! Everything that I have now is "formica" - that seems to work out best for a stumblebum like me. Later... Jimmie

Unfortunately, Jimmie's right...if you use it, it's gonna get dinged. A drunk in a beer joint threw up on my steel once, I just wiped it off and kept playing.

Thats really disgusting.

Richard - What did you find disgusting? The fact that a drunk barfed on his axe, or the fact that Jody just wiped it off and kept playing??

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Lee, from South Texas

I just happened to remember that a few years back a friend of mine bought a beautiful dark red lacquer Emmons p/p. I think it was three weeks after he took delivery on it, he played a club somewhere on Friday and Saturday Night. Sometime between when the band left Friday Night, and they came back Saturday, some S.O.B. took a knife and carved his name in it! Before we get into what he could have/should have done, a few weeks later, he traded it in on a black "Super Pro" I wouldn't have liked it, but I COULD HAVE lived with it. He told me that he couldn't, and just had to get rid of the guitar... Jimmie

<SMALL>some S.O.B. took a knife and carved his name in it!</SMALL>

Since he was dumb enough to give you his name, I hope the police were able to track him down and press charges!

As I remember, it was a nickname, like "Slick", or "Dude", or something... Jimmie

Well Nick dont get too upset that is what gives a guitar penage! Just a war wound so to speak.Kind of a memory as to the nites of fun and playing. That is why I like formica guitars too. Hard to carve something into them!